The Coalition for Inclusion and Nondiscrimination has launched the campaign “#PunctPeUră!Votați301!” whose goal is to demand that the authorities should resume the process of finishing and adopting bill No. 301 concerning the regulation of prejudice-motivated crimes, IPN reports, quoting a press release of the organization.
The Coalition reminds that on December 8, 2016, Moldova’s Parliament gave a first reading to bill No. 301, while on March 5, 2020, the commission for appointments and immunities held the last consultations on this draft law. On March 6, 2020, in the plenary sitting of Parliament, the commission asked to put off the examination of the bill for another day as the proposals submitted by civil society were to be examined and the bill was to be amended before being proposed for the second reading. Five years have passed since then, but no headway was made in finishing this bill.
According to the members of the Coalition, hate speech remains primarily unpunished despite the large number of cases identified in the public sphere and in the media. The prejudice-motivated crimes are not classed as such, the aggressors being punished only for burglary and hooliganism. The reason for the delay in adopting this bill is not known.
On February 5 this year, the Coalition for Inclusion and Nondiscrimination sent a petition to the commission for appointments and immunities and to President Maia Sandu by which it repeatedly asked to resume the process of finishing and adopting the bill and to submit it to Parliament for adoption. The Coalition calls on the citizens to become involved in this campaign so as to ask for a response from the MPs. Those who want can make approaches to the commission for appointments and immunities. The petition form is available from the Coalition’s Facebook page. The signed petition can be set in person or to the email address secretariat.cin@gmail.com.
